If James Franklin’s club is indeed on the path to elite status, these are the awkward teenage years. We’re all going to have to live with the blemishes this season and trust that something more mature and attractive emerges in the near future.

In the meantime, it’s not going to be pretty, even in victory, as Penn State showed in beating Indiana 33-28 on Saturday.

After seeing the breakout of flaws repeat itself in what could have been an easy victory, it’s hard to fathom that the Lions are two plays away from being 7-0 and No. 2 or No. 3 in the nation. If Penn State were 7-0, they’d be just as flawed and fraudulent a top five team as Ohio State proved to be in getting crushed by Purdue on Saturday night.

The Clearasil isn’t working for Franklin’s guys. The Nits’ zits keep coming back, every game day. They’re a confidence killer for players and fans alike, creating the anxious notion that this team is capable of losing to almost anyone, even with a two-score lead in the fourth quarter.

So it was Saturday in Bloomington, when a couple hundred Hoosiers fans nearly were rewarded for sticking around till the bitter end. Apparently, most of the 41,553 who entered Memorial Stadium didn’t get the word on just how poor the Nittany Lions are as closers. Either that, or they just don’t care enough about their program to brave wind and cold.

Penn State had to hold on despite having a lot go right. The Lions avoided disaster by recovering four muffs by the punt-return team. Tommy Stevens made an impact in limited duty in the “Lion” position. The offense diversified, getting running backs effectively involved in the passing game for the first time in four games. The Lions won the stat battles in turnovers and sacks.

All that, and Lions still needed a Shaka Toney-led last-minute defensive stand to survive.

Why? The same splotches that have marred this team all year — dropped passes; shaky special teams play; poor game-day coaching; and a soft, bend-and-hope-not-to-break defense that’s a heart attack to watch.

Here’s a quick recap:

  • There were at least four blatant pass drops, two by Brandon Polk — one of those in the end zone. On defense, Micah Parsons had an interception in his hands but couldn’t secure it, bobbling the ball three times. K.J. Hamler couldn’t catch a punt to save his life. And the Lions couldn’t cleanly secure an on-side kick, giving the Hoosiers a final shot at a stunning upset.
  • The special teams had two huge kickoff returns to set up touchdowns, forced a turnover on a punt and pinned Indiana on its own 5-yard line once. Jake Pinegar even went 2-for-2 on field goals. The bad: A terribly executed fake punt that gave away half the field, a blocked PAT that Pinegar kicked way too low, punts that Blake Gillikin couldn’t keep out of the end zone, Hamler totally befuddled trying to catch punts in the wind (in one case with a teammate running into him), and not securing the late-game on-side kick.
  • Franklin and his staff provided more head-scratchers this week. The fake punt surprised absolutely no one — other than Penn State fans. In the 4-minute offense, OC Ricky Rahne threw three straight times, two going for clock-stopping incompletions. I have no problem throwing — once or twice — in that situation, but Trace McSorley needs to get high-percentage looks or take off running. He needs to be coached to understand that even taking a sack beats throwing an incomplete pass in that situation. Up by two scores late in the fourth quarter, Penn State took exactly 29 seconds off the clock.
  • The defense gave up 554 total yards and 32 first downs. Indiana converted 9 of 21 third downs and 3 of 5 fourth downs. Rotating quarterbacks, the Hoosiers connected on 35 of 55 passes — many of them uncontested in the myriad soft spots in Penn State’s zone.

Franklin, his staff and this extremely young squad aren’t done with their growing pains. Not by a long shot. Directly ahead on the schedule lie ranked teams Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. Right now, it’s hard to imagine that stretch turning out better than 1-2.

But, hey, kids will surprise you, sometimes when you least expect it.

The program surely will grow out of this awkward phase at some point. I think.